You seem to be getting down voted, but honestly I agree with you. If there was an option to limit the amount of tabs I can have open, I totally would use it and limit it all to 10, maybe even just 5. Thing is, this isn't so much a conscious choice – it just happens!

I read something, there's an interesting link. I open a tab in the background and continue reading. Maybe I go back to the tab, find a couple more interesting links and open those in the background. Of course, there's also the link that's so obviously just bait, but I'm a weak man so I click it, then feel bad, like I just had a whole big bag of candy on my own or something. Anyway, rinse and repeat and hey presto – 150 tabs are open in no time.

I fundamentally agree with you, but I'm like a chain smoker, except my vice is the humble HTML anchor...